Sarah’s Creative Journey

  https://austinkleon.com/2020/09/09/15-years-of-blogging-and-3-reasons-to-keep-going/ Well!  It feels so long ago that I've written, even though it hasn't even been 6 months.  So many events have happened this summer and this year alone, that while I think I've been creating more and doing daily creative things, I have put some things to the side. Though that is not necessarily a bad thing.  While this year has been particularly long and painful, I have dug into learning. Learning about white supremacy and racism. Relearning history. Learning even more about myself and my surroundings. Just recently has blogging gained my attention again. One, because of this new art project I've been figuring out. Two, because of Austin Kleon (hence the link above).  The new art project involves more research on my part because I want to call attention to these people for specific reasons. I want to take what I have learned in the past few months and share it with others. Art and crea

Since I am about to turn thirty and head into a new decade, it’s brought about quite a bit of reflection. I’ve just finished reading Todd Henry’s, Louder Than Words , which hit more points than previous self help books. It might have just been my timing of reading it since I’m in a bigger (or seems to be bigger) transition period, where I have accomplished quite a bit with my art, but also feel a bit stagnant. It’s been slow moving the past few years, but I haven’t stopped creating . I have just absorbed a lot and needed to figure out what kind of artist I am and what kind of artist I want to be. What I have learned about myself since college: I’ve been fighting myself on previous ideas of what or who an artist is. I’ve always told myself I don’t want to be all consumed by art. That I won’t be able to do all of the other things I want to pursue if I dedicated that much time into being an artist professionally. I have been both afraid and maybe misled about artist’s life

It's officially April and it has been 3 years since I set out to accomplish 30 goals before turning 30. While I haven't finished all of them (may have been a bit ambitious to learn so many new things in that short of a time period), but I have done about 17! Plus, many other things that weren't on my list! I made my first t.v. debut! (Who knows how many more there will be...) I attended Making Midwest (a local art conference) two years now, and have sort of           increased my art circle, met some new people, and connected with some old. Took some figure drawing classes Working on a collaborative art piece and have plans for more Took more skillshare classes Designed and got a second tattoo Learned more about coffee and roasting Went to 3 Coffee Fests - 1 national and 2 state Became an Assistant Manager at Stauf's Joined a book club Got a side shave Did another 2 backpacking trips Gave blood more frequently Created new habits Listening to new podcast

It's hard to say if I should really count this, but we have at least gone to more theatre shows and supported the theatre community. Funny enough probably supported Dayton theatre more than here in Columbus (*coughnorthmontcough).  We were also able to volunteer our time to help out with State Conference! Even though they mostly needed more bodies to help guide students and what not, it was a fun way to see more shows, meet some people, and learn some more about lighting or other tech stuff.  And after starting to write this, I really don't have much to say on this topic other than just writing about the shows we've seen. Which I don't even feel like doing now. Oh well. Just want to post this as a marker for now. Maybe I'll elaborate a bit more later. 

Well this goal is both accomplished and sort of a bust. I'm terrible at doing anything on a regular routine or schedule. Especially when I try to do it for two people. It's always about the best intentions, but some days... Like everything, this lasts for a couple of days or weeks before we miss one. Then one becomes two and before we know it we're back to eating ice cream on the couch even when it's 10 degrees outside. Good things that happened: Took some new classes Did youtube yoga Signed up to a community center (for a month, then we didn't do it for holidays, took a break in January, I became permanent sub for indoor soccer in February, and was about to pay for another month in March, but so glad I didn't now)! Started stretching again before bed Winter Mario Kart exercise bets Some Wii Sports More hiking and hiking trips More walking at work for Tim Better sleep schedules Less pop, more water Bad things that happened: I feel like a slow d

Classics I have read between 2017 and now :                          Classics I read in 2016: Golden Compass - Philip Pullman                                             Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut                                                     Brave New World - Aldous Huxley Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov                                                         Old Man and the Sea - Hemingway Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes                                        Anthem - Ayn Rand Dune - Frank Herbert                                                                 Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury Catcher and the Rye - J.D. Salinger                                           The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho The Outsiders - S.E. Hinton Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald I know I started the 30 before 30 list in 2017, but wanted to include all the ones I read in 2016 because there are almost just as many! The sad part is I don't rem

Well, we finally have a "garden" (aka 6 plants, and all of them are currently inside). Most of them are also succulents. We're just trying to make it as easy as possible to take care of right now so we can ease into being plant parents without under or over watering them. So far most of them seem to be doing okay... I've never been a green thumb or one to care about putting time into taking care of plants. Sure, they can smell good and are pretty, but eh. The main reason I want to get into it now is to help freshen up the house or our bland patio. Potentially for more than a week or two before they all die. Plus, I think we really need to help out the plant community during this time. I know a lot of the world has been talking about human diseases, but there are so many plant diseases that have not gotten the media screen time they deserve. This is a major crisis as the world has slowly been killing off many of their species and we need to stop this before they bec

I just realized I never wrote about this event! It has been about 5 months since this occurred. And I am so glad I was able to put it together. Plus, since I put in the work to fully fill our house, it's still decorated with all of it (minus the ones that sold). So if you end up reading this and want to make a visit, you can still get a personal VIP tour ;)  While it took me a couple of months to set up and figure out, it went really well! Though it wasn't my sky high hopes of 80-100 people showing up, there were at least 20 (very supportive and amazing) people who made it. And of those people, quite a few bought pieces! Which was the whole point in the end.  I still have quite a bit of art left, but will probably start trying to reuse some pieces and paint over them in the coming years. Or even donating some of it... which speaking of, I did donate 30% of sales from this event to Sierra Club. Thought it would help encourage people to buy and put toward a good cause.  Eit

Some time has passed since I have last written, but I've been working on my goals since this year is the year! Hard to believe it's gone by so fast! Only a couple more months left to tie a few things up.  Obviously I won't be able to finish everything I had written down, but that doesn't mean some goals won't carry over to the next 5 year goal list.  For goals that I'm near completing or in the process of completing,  I'm still going to  try to write about.  For this post, the goal is workouts. Ideally consistent workouts. Let's be honest though, it's hard to be consistent with anything daily or weekly (hence multiple art goals I've continued trying to do). But I have also come to the conclusion that sometimes persistence  can lead to consistence. That being said, we all make mistakes and easily miss doing things even on a daily basis. Take brushing your teeth. I typically do this twice a day everyday, but there's always an occasion, o